The Supreme Court docket upholds the life imprisonment sentence of a South Korean pastor who exploited three minors by compelled labor. In a choice penned by Affiliate Justice Samuel Gaerlan, the SC Third Division discovered Si Younger Oh, also called “Steve Oh,” responsible of violating Republic Act No. 9208, also called the Anti-Trafficking in Individuals Act of 2003. | PHOTO: Nationwide Privateness Commision web site / privateness.gov.ph
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court docket upheld the life imprisonment sentence of a South Korean pastor who exploited three minors by compelled labor.
In a choice penned by Affiliate Justice Samuel Gaerlan, the Supreme Court docket Third Division discovered Si Younger Oh, also called “Steve Oh,” responsible of violating Republic Act No. 9208, also called the Anti-Trafficking in Individuals Act of 2003.
“Si Younger Oh, a pastor affiliated with the Korean Christian Presbyterian Normal Meeting primarily based in Seoul, South Korea, moved to the Philippines in 2008.” states the choice, in keeping with the Supreme Court docket assertion launched Monday. “He grew to become the pinnacle of a theology college in Pampanga, however later admitted to working the college with out the required authorities permits.”
The case stemmed from Oh’s recruitment of three 17-year-olds, who had been promised free theology schooling and coaching to grow to be pastors or missionaries however had been compelled to carry out “exhausting labor on church development tasks for little to no compensation.”
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In 2013, a joint operation by the Division of Social Welfare and Growth and Nationwide Bureau of Investigation rescued the minors and arrested the South Korean.
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Oh defended himself by claiming that that the minors volunteered to do development work as a part of their non secular coaching.
Nonetheless, the Regional Trial Court docket of Angeles Metropolis convicted him of certified trafficking in 2017, which the Court docket of Appeals (CA) affirmed in 2021.
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Oh appealed the CA ruling earlier than the Supreme Court docket, which ultimately determined to reject it, stressing that all parts of trafficking underneath RA 9208 are current in his case.
The excessive court docket defined that trafficking happens when people are “recruited, transported, or transferred—no matter consent or data—underneath threats, coercion, deception, or abuse of energy,” for exploitative functions reminiscent of compelled labor.
It even emphasised that though the minors might have agreed to carry out development work resulting from their non secular beliefs, “a minor’s consent, even with out the usage of coercive or misleading means, shouldn’t be given out of their very own free will.”
For the reason that crime was categorized as certified trafficking due to the involvement of minors and a number of victims, the legislation supplies a life sentence for such violation.
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Apart from a life sentence, Oh was additionally fined P2 million and ordered to pay P1.8 million in damages to the victims. — Stefani Tacugue, trainee
